Lecture 7: Australia and the Vietnam War

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Lecture 7 Australia and the Vietnam War

• Australias stake in what started out as a
  Red-engineered dirty little civil war is this
  If Communism takes over South Vietnam, then
  Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia will surely be
  swallowed up too, in time. We could be next!
• --Brisbanes Courier Mail, 1965
• You are all the representatives of the many
  thousand-year-old spirit of independence in our
  people, the indomitable spirit that has passed
  down through national heroes. Now that spirit
  is yours to protect, nurture and harness in the
  name of Vietnamese freedom.
• -- Vietnamese
  Communist Revolutionary

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Reasons for Australias Involvement

• The Cold War and the Domino Theory
• Fear of China
• US Regional Engagement
• Bringing ANZUS Alive/ Insurance Policy
• Treaty Obligations

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Australias Involvement in the war in Vietnam

• Sending in the AATTV (Australian Army Training
  Team Vietnam) -- 1962
• Requesting/Offering Troops
• Initial Commitment
• Conflicts
• Battle of Long Tan (1966)
• Tet Offensive (1968)
• Withdrawal (1970-71)

Australian soldier at Long Tan
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Implications for Australian foreign policy

• The Guam/ Nixon Doctrine (1969)
• US Disengagement from the Region
• The End of the Cold War
• Other Peoples Wars

Public Ceremony at the Vietnam War Memorial,
Anzac Parade
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Other Peoples Wars and Other Peoples
Experiences in War

• Great and Powerful Friends
• Ignorance of the Other Side
• Incomprehension of the Other/ Ordinary People
• Kims Dads Story

Ho Chi Minh
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Lessons for Australian foreign policy from the
Vietnam War

• Comparing Communist guerrillas and contemporary
  terrorists?
• Humanising and de-humanising Communist guerrillas
  and contemporary terrorists?
• Is the War in Iraq an Other Peoples Wars?

Kims Dad, Thiet (left) circa 1959